Name: Oyster Pie
Ingredients: rich puff pastry; large fine oysters; pepper; coarse sea salt; spice; butter; 3 hard-boiled egg yolks, chopped; grated bread crumbs; ½ cup cream

Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Oyster Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Spread the puff pastry over the sides and edge of a deep pie plate, leaving the bottom unlined.
Drain the liquor from the oysters and place the oysters in a pan.

Make the filling

Season the oysters with pepper, coarse sea salt, spice, and butter.
Add the chopped egg yolks and grated bread crumbs to the oysters.
Pour the oyster mixture into the pie dish.

Bake and serve

Roll out the lid of the pie and sprinkle a little flour on top.
Add the cream, then cover with the lid.
Bake until the crust is golden.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,184 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Oyster + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,545 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rich puff pastry: Forms a flaky, golden crust that encloses the filling.
Large fine oysters: Provide the main filling and their briny flavor.
Butter: Adds richness and helps the filling brown.
3 hard-boiled egg yolks: Thicken and enrich the filling with a creamy texture.
Grated bread crumbs: Absorb moisture and help bind the filling.
½ cup cream: Adds moisture and richness to the filling.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.